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sabotabbyHere you have the catchword around which has long circled a debate familiar to you. Its familiarity tells you how unfruitful it has been, for it has not advanced beyond the monotonous reiteration of arguments for and against: on the one hand, the correct political line is demanded of the poet; on the other, one is justified in expecting his work to have quality. Such a formulation is of course unsatisfactory as long as the connection between the two factors, political line and quality, has not been perceived. Of course, the connection can be asserted dogmatically. You can declare: a work that shows the correct political tendency need show no other quality. You can also declare: a work that exhibits the correct tendency must of necessity have every other quality.
This second formulation is not uninteresting, and, moreover, it is correct. I adopt it as my own. But in doing so I abstain from asserting it dogmatically. It must be proved.
(Bad political folksingers, I'm looking at you.)
I was wondering today what Benjamin's and Brecht's friendship must have been like. It's not that I imagine Brecht as more of a hardass (though he probably was), but there's a certain touching optimism that I see in Benjamin's work that makes me think that he must have argued a lot with the sort of personality who wrote something like "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" I really wish I had a time machine, though it probably still wouldn't help as I don't speak German.
Also, Benjamin's
